Blair tries to draw line under Iraq war

By ANDREW GRICE

A battered but defiant Tony Blair sought yesterday to win back lost public and party support by trying to draw a line under the Iraq war, but warned his critics they would have to accept him on his own terms.

In his speech to the Labour conference in Bournemouth, Mr Blair promised to abandon his "top down" presidential style but made no concessions on his public service reforms.

Echoing Margaret Thatcher's "the lady's not for turning" pledge in 1981, he said: "I can only go one way. I've not got a reverse gear."

The Prime Minister delivered an implied rebuke to Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who irritated him on Monday by staking out an alternative, more traditional "Labour" agenda and refused to endorse the "New Labour" project.

Mr Blair said: "I've never led this party by calculation. Policy you calculate. Leadership comes by instinct."

Mr Blair won a warm, but not ecstatic, seven-minute standing ovation after urging Labour to unite behind winning the prize of an unprecedented third full term and becoming the natural party of government in this century.

He urged his party to move on from the divisive issue of Iraq by offering his most conciliatory words towards those who opposed his hawkish stance.

He admitted the war had divided the international community, the party, the country, families and friends.

"I know many people are disappointed, hurt, angry. I know many profoundly believe the action we took was wrong," he said. "I do not at all disrespect anyone who disagrees with me."

Mr Blair confessed he had doubts after receiving a letter from parents who believed their soldier son had died in vain in Iraq, but had another from a bereaved couple saying he had done the right thing.

While he hinted that some British intelligence might have been wrong, he insisted he would take the same decision again if presented with such information about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

Highlighting the threat that terrorists could obtain WMD, he said: "Britain should be in there helping confront it, not because we're America's poodle, but because dealing with it will make Britain safer."

He insisted the world needed an engaged rather than isolationist United States. Insisting that Iraq was a better country without Saddam Hussein, he pledged:

"We who started the war must finish the peace."

He admitted that, after six years in power, he was in a "rough patch" and "more battered" but said strong leadership was the only sort he could offer.

"I believe the British people will forgive a government mistakes...but what they won't forgive is cowardice in the face of a challenge."

Opening a new phase in his premiership of "renewal, not retreat," he conceded:

"I know the old top down approach won't work any more. I know I can't say 'I am the leader, follow me.'"

He promised the biggest-ever consultation exercise between the Government and the British people would be launched in the coming months, to ensure an honest debate about the challenges facing the country.

In a riposte to Mr Brown's pitch the previous day, Mr Blair said: "New Labour for me was never a departure from belief. It is my belief. The just society in which each person is a full and equal citizen of our land, irrespective of birth, class, wealth, race or sex." He even managed a rare use of the word "socialism."

But he insisted that controversial reforms, such as top-up university fees, were the route to social justice and fairness. The purpose of change was to level up, not level down.

"Choice has always been there for the well off....What is unfair is not the right to choose, not the pursuit of excellence but where that choice and that excellence depends on your wealth and not on your need."

Mr Blair gave his clearest hint that he was ready to back David Blunkett's bid to introduce identity cards.

"In a world of mass migration, with cheaper air travel, and all the problems of fraud, it makes sense to ask whether now in the early 21st century identity cards are no longer an affront to civil liberties but may be the way of protecting them," he said.

He promised another crack-down on asylum to shorten the "ludicrously complicated" appeals process, "de-rail the gravy train of legal aid" and remove asylum-seekers who fail in their applications.

Mr Blair repeatedly returned to his familiar mantra of tough decisions and hard choices.

"The time to trust a politician most is not when they're taking the easy option. Any politician can do the popular things."

He hinted at the wider introduction of road pricing and congestion charging, saying a desperately-needed 21st century transport system could not be fairly funded by the taxpayer.

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Herald Feature: Iraq